THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC ASSEMBLY TOWARDS YOUTH
The increasing number of public assembly among the Malaysian especially the youngsters caused an anxiety at the national level. It is frightening to see the younger generation involved in expressing their voice publicly. Like the article posted in Laman laman kl today , the youth gather themselves in order to speak up and shares views among them has made certain people feeling uneasy and create tension in the country. This issue should be closely monitored so that it will not lead to a major problem. The article 10 of federal constitution guarantees Malaysian citizens the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association, and as subjected to the clause, all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms. Public assembly did not limit to the demonstration or riot only, it is also included concert, gig public talk, public forum and so on.
In my judgment, the issues of increasing number of public assembly in our country should be seriously looking if we want to maintain the harmony in the society. As a middle income country with multiracial people, it is important for the people to take into consideration the sensitivity of other races. Even people may have different opinion towards public assembly, they cannot put aside the values that people hold from the time before independent. The fact that the peace can be maintain if the social institution plays their part and function according to their task. The social institution such as education institution should play their role in promotes the good relationship, cooperation and tolerance with each other as what we used to have during the pre independent years or colonials and period after independence. Same goes to the family institution that obviously shows their manifest function which is to teach and educate their kids to be a good person to other person and the latent function is to avoid their kids to be skeptical and prejudice towards other races. These institutions are supposed to work together to promote unity and stability or else it will become social dysfunction and will not bring benefits to the society as a whole.
The writer is true about their occasion is a place to do a public forum and a place which they can air their views on issues of concern without the involvement of political parties or elected representatives however it is important for us to keep an eye on those event in order to avoid any social conflict that might arise, as an example the youth and the senior generation. Most of the young adults think that public assembly is a way of showing or expressing opinions, sharing their thoughts with others. It is not necessarily involves with violence or illegal acts, it could be a peace assembly with the objectives of sharing their passion in music, arts, education and local issues that attract their attention, there are several public assembly that promotes the harmonious among the society such as the Terry Fox Run for Cancer. Recently, there are many flash mob events occurred around Malaysia, their intention is to share their interest and supports towards entertainment sector. In contrary with the senior stands, they sometimes think that public assembly could lead to a major problem and at the same time harm the national security. The increasing amount of public event hold by people makes them feel uneasy because they scared of any unwanted incident might happen. The perception arises due to the reason of their experience with the past, such as 13 may 1969, Bersih, Berseks and so on. The senior usually being prejudice towards the public assembly event.
As it became more famous in the western world, people around the world tend to follow it even in some part of the world it is against the culture, local values and local people’s way of life. In Malaysia people have a certain standard in communicating with each other that is in accordance with the culture and values that we practice. For instance, Malaysia has certain norms and expectations that people are expected to do in a situation. As an example we will not address a senior citizen with their name. Norms that I am referring is the rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its society. Public assembly without any permit from the administration and local government can be referred as mores whereby it may possibly lead to serious consequences to the partaker. The sanction can be seen in a formal or informal way, as in this case, society might show an informal sanction by rejecting ones from society, making a negative commentary. As for formal sanction, a serious and the worst sanction that can be expected is detainment by the authorities. It is also closely related with the real culture of youngsters nowadays that being exposed to the world news by the new media, they are more alert and aware and have the courage to speak up their mind as compared to the ideal culture of youngsters before the millennium generation who rarely take part in assembly and focus more on their studies, real culture where adolescence believes that they have the power and ideas on how to live a better ways.
Nevertheless, I strongly believe that we should not pointing fingers at anyone, and instead of blaming each other, the social agents in the society should take a precaution steps in handling the issue. The teachers should give a clear picture on the impacts towards others and did the message can be delivered to the target audience, the family as the primary source of emotional support should participate and guides these young adults in becoming who they want, and guide them in gaining desired position, the NGO’s should cooperate with the government in channeling the opinions into the right place since the youngsters may be lacking of experience but full with spirit. It is to ensure that public assembly did not turn out to be the main way that people choose in sending their message. As an example, the small gathering of bikers, singers may do not bring any harm to the society but as it becomes norms it will be a counterculture in the society. It can be clearly seen from the illegal race perform by mat rempit, gig that promotes alcohol, drugs usage and any other social problem that might arise. People should aware of the conflicting values and identity that a person may face, they have to hold too many statuses at once, the ascribed status in the family, as the elder brother, sister, Malay, Chinese or Indian. Or even the conflict between the achieved status such as the leader in a group or class that actually become a responsibility or burden.
The other reason is the technology lag which disrupts the culture system whereas people can disseminate information and receive information from the internet and the authorities cannot trace the responsible party that spread the negative elements. In this era, the internet could be an effective network for people to communicate and interact with others which give a better impact as compared to flyers, handout, and banners and so on. In this case, the authority had warn people that a public assembly with any objectives must apply for permission from the authorities however there are many public assembly such as underground and indie gig were held without any consent from the responsible party. I also admit that the existence of xenocentrism element contribute to the increasing numbers of public assembly, the reason why I said so is because people around the world especially the western believes that they could make themselves overheard by holding an assembly and by that they are making a statement without concerning that they bring a negative impact towards the nation, as an example techno dance party that held in Berlin, German.
In the article written in the blog, the writer mentioned that, people were given chances to spend time and share interest, it is also stated that they were holding a peaceful assembly that meant for a good cause. I strongly believe that people despite of races, age, gender or values should be given a place to voice out their opinion but the freedom to speak out must be control and monitored especially in a multiracial country, it is because of the tendency of this small community to be aggressive and later starts a provocative action is huge. The group starts with a primary group, where there are dyad or triad who believes that they are deviant and have a different thought on an issue, when the two person gather up and starts to interacting with each other, and they believes they getting stronger by the increasing numbers in the group might cause a chaos at the end of the day . Although I have a different stands in this case, it is unfair if we put a labeling at all public assembly and be prejudice to all public assembly events. Institutions should play roles and together prevent the anomie situations become a social norms. As an example, a street demonstration rarely happen in Malaysia, it is because people believes that there is a better option in channeling opinion, so there are not many public assembly being hold, but nowadays, a minority starts to think that public assembly is the best alternative that they have and I am afraid that one day it will become norms in the society and street demonstration, violence like had happen in some countries start to take place here.
Our society should be more aware of this problem, any effort that can shield the adolescence from getting involved in such dangerous and negative activities should be supported by all.
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